Vonage have reacted quickly to news that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) provider Skype’s announcement that 0207 (central London) numbers would not be supported after December 20th by offering affected users the chance to continue using their 0207 number. The decision is reported to impact as many as 10,000 Skype users within the UK. 

Vonage call plans start from £5.99 a month for unlimited calls to UK and Ireland landline calls and £7.99 for international call packages. Vonage are also in the process of relaunching their website on the back of a usability study which will make their cheap international phone calls packages easier to understand for prospective customers. 

>> Visit Vonage’s website to see their cheap phone call packages

My Uncle lives in Canada but spends a lot of time travelling round the world for business and the last time I saw him he sat me down (over a few beers) and told me the next big thing that would hit the UK - VoIP. My reaction was ‘er what’s that’. Well VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and basically means using your broadband connection to make phone calls.

“Well,” I told my uncle “I’ve been making phone calls over my broadband connection for a year or so using Skype”. Skype for the uninitiated is a software programme that enables FREE calls (including video if you have a camera) to other Skype users by plugging a headset into your computer. You can also call landlines including internationally at pretty cheap rates. Skype actually works quite well, but the call quality is very hit and miss depending on how many Skype users are online.  It can be very annoying when you’re shouting “what, I can’t hear you, I’ll turn you up! I can’t turn you up. I’ll call you later!!!!” or listening to your fellow caller sounding like Cher singing “Do you believe in life after love” (I must stop using that joke when talking about Skype but it’s true!).

Anyway, my uncle says to me “that’s not true VoIP, you should try Vonage” before whispering mystically “it’s the future! You don’t need to even have your computer turned on to make calls. All you need to do is plug a regular phone into the Vonage adapter and plug that into your router and you’re good to go. It’s not VoIP in a Skype sense, it’s broadband telephony”

So I went away and did a bit of searching and took a quick look at the Vonage website, £5.99 a month for unlimited UK calls, er no thanks! Why would I want to pay a monthly fee for a service I already get for free? Cheap International landline calls - that’s why. (more…)

Ofcom are pressing for common sense to prevail by making it mandatory for VoIP providersto provide access to emergency numbers including 999 by the first half of 2008. Ofcom’s proposal published recently stated that any VoIP provider that allows their subscribers to make calls to landlines as part of their VoIP package must also offer access to the emergency services via 999.

It may come as a surprise to many non VoIP users that some providers such as Skype don’t allow 999 access and indeed it is worrying that any delay in making a 999 call whilst trying to locate a mobile phone of normal landline could in fact cause fatalities. The report suggested that enabling users to call 999 would cost just 90 pence per household per year - a very small cost when you consider the life threatening implications! (more…)